Which one of the following statements with regard to Newton’s third law of motion is NOT correct?
Force never occurs singly in nature
When the earth pulls a stone downwards due to gravity, the stone exerts a force on the earth
There is ‘a cause-effect relation implied in the third law
There is no cause-effect relation implied in the third law
Answer is Right!
Answer is Wrong!
This question was previously asked in
UPSC CAPF – 2020
Newton’s third law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. These action and reaction forces are a pair and occur simultaneously as part of a single interaction between two bodies. The law describes the nature of forces as interactions rather than implying one force causes the other in a sequential manner. There is no temporal delay or causal dependency between the action and reaction forces; they exist concurrently. Statement D, “There is no cause-effect relation implied in the third law”, is consistent with this understanding.